


Royal Times

by non_sensical



Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-15
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 14:32:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2776547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/non_sensical/pseuds/non_sensical
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mary, Kenna, Lola, Greer, and Aylee are in their third year of university and still waiting for their lives to take off. Mary, Kenna, and Aylee are set to work at Stuart Consolidated, Greer needs to marry rich to save her parent's coal company, and Lola just wants to get the hell out but when Mary gets an internship at the most high-profile magazine in France, it seems that everyone will find their happy endings. Or will they?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Mary's breath came out in sharp huffs as she sprinted through the campus, sneakers rhythmically slapping the brick ground. It was the first day of her third year at university and already, she was running late. Well, technically she hadn’t been late to the actual university, but she was currently late to a meeting with her friends. As she slowed to catch her breath, she pulled out her phone with one hand, calling the first number she had on speed dial. In the other hand, she clutched a thick stack of today’s mail.

"Mary? Where are you?" asked Kenna’s worried voice. In the background, Mary could hear her friends talking.

"I'm at the quad, where are you?"

At that moment, Mary heard someone shout her name and she whipped around, seeing her friends waving to her. She hung up and jogged over.

Kenna, with the ever-present arms of Bash entwined around her, lowered her phone with a grin on her face. She was dressed immaculately, as always, the most diligent of the girls to maintain a high-class appearance. Even her hair was perfectly curled with the signature braid that everyone tried to incorporate into their hair since they were little. Aylee once went above and beyond by braiding the entire front half of her hair and then braiding all the individual braids together. Needless to say, that had been an interesting year.

With her family being extremely wealthy thanks to all the individual endeavors they had invested in, Kenna always had money to burn. She justified it by constantly saying that if one day, she would have to have her parent’s job running the Scotland division of Stuart Consolidated, she was going to have fun and spend as much as she could before she was confined to such a boring job.

Aylee was next to Kenna and Bash, shyly holding a sketchbook and pencils in her long fingers. As she waved to Mary her skirt flowed in the wind, like she was a figure plucked out of a Renaissance painting. As an art major, she was studying everything that seemed like a bad career choice to others but she was also being groomed to join her parents at work in Stuart Consolidated. Her parents worked in the art division, but still held a significant amount of shares in the company, even more than Kenna's parents. In fact, there was a little rivalry between them to own the most shares but Mary’s mother had often frowned upon the feud with a shake of her head and a smile.

Greer stood next to her, arm looped with Aylee's. Her parents also aspired to have Greer follow their footsteps into their business in the coal industry. However, as the coal business began to decline, they kept making a point to Greer that she should look for a rich boy at university to give her a contingency plan in case their company should go under.

Lola was turned away from Mary, chattering into her phone. Her curls cascaded down her back and she fiddled with her shirt, nervous about something. Every one of Mary's friends were being groomed to join a company which would promise a great career, but Lola longed to leave anything that had to do with Stuart Consolidated.

As Mary approached, they all collapsed into a group hug with laughs and giggles. They all started talking at once but broke out into laughs when nobody could understand anyone else.

“Oh, Greer, Kenna, Lola, it’s so good to see you. Aylee, we’re all together again,” exclaimed Mary, unable to keep the smile from her face.

“Trust me, we’ve been dying to see you, Mary. When did you get in?” asked Aylee.

“Last night,” confessed Mary, remembering how tired she felt and how blissful her soft bed was. She wished she could go back.

"Have you registered yet?" asked Greer as Mary started to flip through her stack of letters. "We have a dorm on the west end of the campus."

"Oh no, we still have to do that," exclaimed Kenna, turning to Bash. She tugged at Bash's sleeve and he nuzzled her neck, smiling.

Everyone else fake-gagged.

Bash rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm off then, now that you're here," said Bash to Mary. He detached himself from Kenna and with a goodbye kiss whispered, "I'll see you later."

Kenna nodded, watching his retreating form before turning back to the rest of the girls. Aylee and Greer were involved in a conversation about their classes, Mary was glancing through her mail, and Lola was checking her phone, a magazine tucked under her arm.

"I have a letter from a hairband company trying to urge me to buy more headbands," commented Mary, holding up the colorful advertisement.

The other girls laughed and Greer said, "The last thing you need is more headbands, Mary."

Mary nodded, but pursed her lips and said, "But they're so pretty."

Greer looked at her. "Mary. Don't..."

"Maybe one or two?"

"Mary!"

Laughing, Mary said, "Oh, alright!"

They lapsed into an easy silence as they all enjoyed the beautiful day. Kenna looked lovingly at her group of friends before saying,"So Mary, how was the convent?"

Groaning, Mary looked up and said, "Do you have to mention my awful summer?"

"Teasing you about it just makes it funnier," teased Kenna, sipping on her coffee. A new shopping bag hung from the crook of her elbow like an ever-present accessory. The one constant thing about Kenna was her love to shop.

"Well, let's just say that the most interesting thing I learned was how to milk a goat."

"Ew," said Greer and Aylee in unison. Lola made a face.

Mary shrugged and replied, "Well, I'm back but I definitely won't be visiting rural France ever again."

“It sounded lovely though,” Greer said. "It would seem like the countryside would be an amazing place to visit."

"Then you can go to the convent, Greer, and we'll stay here in Paris," replied Kenna, smirking a little. "I think the goats would like some company."

Greer shook her head with a frown on her face, but a smile peeked through in the corners of her lips. Kenna and Greer could never remain angry at each other, no matter how awful their fights became.

"Speaking of going places, Kenna, is that a shopping bag with new shoes in it?" asked Aylee, peering into the white paper bag as if it held the center of the universe.

"Yes, of course. Why?"

Lola rolled her eyes and said, "You're shopping this early in the day?"

“Are you judging?” Kenna's eyes narrowed. "Greer buys two strawberry pastries every morning, but you don't see me commenting on it."

"Don't drag me into this!"

As the other girls quarrelled and bickered over meaningless things, Mary reached the last envelope in her stack. Her eyebrows drew together in confusion and she examined the address of the sender; M.E. Magazine. She opened the letter haphazardly, impatiently tugging the letter out and in the process, ripping off one of the corners. She rubbed the expensive paper in between her fingers as she opened the folds carefully. She let out an excited shriek as she read the contents of the letter.

"What's going on?" asked Kenna as Mary hugged her in her excitement. "Did you win the lottery?"

Mary, now separate from Kenna, shook her head and held the letter out. "I applied for an internship at M.E. Magazine and they accepted me! I have an interview this afternoon!"

Everyone started congratulating Mary except for Lola who simply said, "There's a lot of fraud going around these days. Are you sure it's not someone who's trying to lure you to your death?"

Mary shot Lola a look and said, "Would a serial killer use such nice paper to 'lure me to my death'?" She tapped the paper as proof.

"Well, I'm happy for you, Mary," smiled Aylee, handing back the paper. "That magazine is like a Holy Bible for us art students, it would be so cool to have a friend who worked there."

"I'm not working there, it's just an internship and the position is for a personal assistant. I wouldn't be writing articles or anything," replied Mary, looking over the paper again with a smile on her face.

Greer, who had been turning over the situation in her mind for the past few seconds of the conversation asked, "Why are you getting an internship at M.E. Magazine? It's owned by your mother's rivals and besides, couldn't you just get a job at your mother's company? It's not like she would refuse you a job."

"It’s all about being nice to other companies before you merge with them," said Mary, waving her hand through the air. "My mother wants Stuart Consolidated and Valois Enterprises to have a better business relations except their only condition was that I started off with an internship first."

"Why apply? Doesn't that mean you would automatically get the job?" asked Lola.

Mary shrugged and replied, "I had to submit an anonymous application which basically means they didn't know who I was. It's company policy or something."

"Well," exclaimed Kenna, throwing an arm around Mary's shoulders, "I'm glad that you got the interview, but if you go dressed as that, we’re going to have a serious problem." Greer hummed in agreement, walking over to pull Mary’s hair in different directions to try and make something elegant from it. Taking the shopping bag off her arm, Kenna held it out to Mary and said, "Here. I want you to have this for your interview."

Mary was flustered at the gesture and stammered, "I can't take that!"

"Yes, you can because it's a gift. Now take it! Or else you will go to your interview for the most high-profile magazine in France in tennis shoes and Mary, as your friend, I am obligated to stop you."

Mary hesitated but eventually had the bag shoved into her hands. She could see Kenna's point of view and said, "You'll have them back tonight."

Kenna just waved her off, weaving her arm into Mary's and leading her to the registration area with Lola, Greer, and Aylee following. She announced, "We're going to register, then move into our dorm, and get something to eat. I am starving!"

The other girls enthusiastically agreed, everyone linking arms, but Mary could only summon enough fervor to nod at a faster pace than usual. Her stomach was slowly exploding into butterflies and she felt as if her heart was going to beat out of her chest.

The time remaining for her interview slowly ticked down.

 

* * *

 

Mary, deciding to take the bus, kept checking her reflection in the smudged window. It turned out that the magazine Lola had under her arm was in fact from M.E. Magazine and they all spent time pouring over the contents. Seeing the models in their long-legged and fresh-faced glory, it made Mary extremely self-conscious of the way she had dressed today. She kept reminding herself that she wasn't applying for the position of a model, just a personal assistant, just a personal assistant, just a-

The bus pulled up to a stop just one block away from M.E.'s main building. Mary hopped off onto the pavement and almost sprinted to the side of the road that faced the intimidating building. She gasped at the sheer size of it, noting a comparison between her mother's offices and these. Darting across the street, Mary's neck started to hurt from craning her head so far back to see the top of the building. At the foot of the yards and yards of glass, Mary noted the way the employees dressed as they entered and exited the building. Although it was only 2 o'clock, Mary could see a steady stream of pencil skirts, blazers, and Louboutin heels in the crowd. She glanced down at her Converse shoes and peasant blouse, trying to remind herself that it was just an opening for a personal assistant.

It was foolish to get so nervous anyway. Mary's mother was the CEO of one of the largest companies in Scotland - and even the United Kingdom - and was frequently told her that she would one day inherit the full responsibilities of the company as was dictated in her father's will. She would soon be more powerful in the financial world than whatever job she would have here.

So why was she so nervous?

So deep in her thoughts, Mary didn't notice the sleek, black car pull up to the building right behind her or the two bodyguards that emerged. Their sunglasses revealed nothing of their eyes and as one of them stood in front of the car and the other opened the back door, their mouths were set in a firm, unwavering line.

Their heavy footsteps finally brought Mary back to the real world and she turned her head to see the newcomer.

He was dressed as sleek as the car in a black suit that hugged his forms in all of the right ways, making Mary's knees weak at the sight of the expensive fabric hug his biceps. On his head was a mop of blonde curls and Mary could almost imagine running fingers through the silky locks. Something about him was so familiar.

Mary's head was in so many different directions that it was the vibrating of her phone that finally expelled all her unwanted thoughts and feelings from her mind. She picked up, running a hand through her hair.

"Hello, it's Mary Stuart. No, no! I'm right downstairs, I'm outside the building, I'll be there soon!"

Mary barely hung up her phone before she was running into the building, pushing open the heavy glass doors. If her mother had seen her today, she would reprimand her at such antic behavior, but Mary's nerves were getting the better of her. She jogged up to the reception and quickly retrieved a visitor's pass, smiling in thanks. She walked quickly to the elevators and darted into the first one whose doors were open. Fortunately, it was going up. Unfortunately, the man she had seen earlier and his two bodyguards were standing in the elevator with her.

She tried her best to ignore them, hitting the button for the 28th floor and leaning against the wall of the elevator when it started moving upwards. The small space was lit up by blue lights and as Mary tried to get her breathing under control, she could feel her heart picking up speed as the elevator crept closer and closer.

Was it because it was her first job interview? Or because this was the second time the Stuarts would try and use Mary to liaison with the Valois? She had spent time with the son of the owners as the adults tried to create an alliance between the two companies, but they constantly disagreed on many things and with the death of Henry, the father, Marie de Guise decided that Valois Enterprises was worth too much time.

"Hello."

Mary's head whipped around, trying to come up with an answer to the greeting that had spilled from the man's lips, but when she looked to him, she spotted the phone that was sitting on his ear. Her cheeks flushed too much for her liking and she silently reprimanded herself.

"Yes, go according to plan. We'll arrange for an in-depth analyis of Stuart Consolidated and its holdings-"

Mary's head shot up.

"-and we'll include an interview with the CEO...um, the CEO..."

Before she could stop herself, Mary blurted out, "Marie de Guise."

All three men turned to look at her, but only the man's lips curved slightly upwards. He repeated the name and hung up the phone, eyes lingering on Mary's for a little too long.

Mary opened her mouth to say something, but before she could the elevator ground to a halt eight floors below the one Mary needed to get to. A tinny voice in the speakers announced that the elevator was out of order and that the passengers would have to disembark and use another for the time being. As the doors opened, Mary checked her watch and the moment of peace she had had with the man evaporated as she noted she had three minutes to make her interview.

She sprinted out of the elevator and quickly ran for the stairwell, shopping bag hitting her back with each step. As she climbed the steps and her heartbeat increased tenfold, she thanked whoever was listening that she was wearing sneakers and not the heels that Kenna had so graciously given her. She finally made it to the 28th floor, completely out of breath and legs threatening to fold underneath her. She jogged to the reception and managed to choke out the questions, "Where are the interviews?" With a vague hand gesture, Mary delved deep into the inner workings of M.E. Magazine. She dodged models, designers, racks of clothing and flying papers as she searched for a sign that would helpfully say, "INTERVIEWS HERE! MARY, YOUR INTERVIEW IS RIGHT. HERE."

It took a few seconds and an encounter with an angry hair stylist before she found a set of glass doors with a line of girls milling around outside. She confirmed with them that this was, in fact, the place the interviews where going to be held. Mary got into line and as she tried to keep her head high, she noticed the line of pretty and tall women that were waiting with her.

Her mother had stressed that this interview was so important to their company and would benefit many people that were looking to her as her next CEO that she immediately tried to gauge each individual. She was smaller than all of them, one of the shortest girls there, and she noticed the heavy eye makeup that painted each one's face. Her stomach plunged down to her knees and she tried to keep a bright outlook, but her chances of working at a magazine that capitalized the importance of outer looks were slowly diminishing.

The glass door opened and suddenly, the air thickened and grew tense. A silence settled in over the applicants as they watched two blonde women walk out of the office, glancing over the ladies like they were cattle. Mary recognized one to be Catherine de Medici and hoped that she wasn't part of the interview process.

Thankfully, Catherine just nodded to the other woman before walking away, the hectic crowd of people immediately parting for her. The other woman held a clipboard and quickly checked it over before beginning her introductions.

"Hello, my name is Olivia D'amencourt, assistant to the Chief Editor. I'll be overseeing your interviews today. You will be coming in for your interviews one by one and hopefully, one of you will be joining me in assisting Mr. Francis Valois."

As she ushered in the first applicant, Mary couldn't help but feel her breath be stolen away. Francis Valois. The Francis Valois. The one that she spent her childhood with.

Mary couldn’t help but gulp as her stomach exploded into butterflies.


	2. Chapter 2

Kenna and Aylee sat on a wooden bench by the pond, throwing bread to the swans before them. Ripples of water shone on the water's surface and the birds dove for the bread, fighting over the small morsels. The girls lounged in the sunlight and as the breeze brushed past their cheeks, they both had small smiles on their face.

Out of the silence, Aylee said, "You know what I think when I see swans? Graceful, elegant, noble-"

"Plump," grinned Kenna, throwing another piece of bread.

Aylee rolled her eyes again, breaking off another piece.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!" screamed a voice behind them.

The two girls jumped and look around to see Greer, her shirt completely soaked in purple liquid, a look of fury and embarrassment on her face. She stormed up to them, hands balled up into fists by her sides. Her cheeks almost matched the hue of her shirt. "Of ALL the things that could POSSIBLY happen!"

"What's wrong?" asked Aylee, patting the bench next to her.

Greer plopped down and yelled, "I was TRYING to get into our dorms to move my things in when Leith! Ugh, LEITH! He just popped out of nowhere carrying a bottle of wine and managed to spill it ALL over me! WHY would you carry wine around the dorms?! And I can't even change because all my clothes are packed in boxes that aren't here yet! She put her head in her hands and moaned, "Even Castleroy saw me!"

"Please, Greer, could you say that louder? I'm worried that the poor old man in the mailroom missed this exciting announcement," teased Kenna, holding out a piece of bread.

Greer took the bread and slumped in the seat. Aylee, always with a smile, put her arms on Greer's shoulders and leaned Greer towards her, rubbing the top of her arm with her other hand. She didn’t even care that the wine might soak her own shirt. Kenna gave Greer a look of remorse and leaned over to pat her knee. Without thinking, Greer took a bite of the bread, chewing it solemnly as the swans below lamented at the loss of their next snack.

* * *

When the first girl came out the room, she was disheveled and near tears. She ripped her resume in half and ran out of the room, leaving behind a line of panicked girls who suddenly began whispering and murmuring amongst themselves. They had all heard that this was a coveted position, but they never imagined that the interviewer would make them cry. If only they could see past the curtain that Olivia had drawn over the glass door.

Mary reached into the bag and pulled out the shoes. She gave a dejected sigh before toeing off her Converse.

The second girl exited in a dazed state, barely walking past the rest of the applicants before bursting into tears. Mary, who had been sipping on a bottle of water and ignoring the ache of her feet in the impossibly high shoes, stared as the girl walked out. What could Olivia possibly be saying that would make these girls with glowing resumes break down so easily? And why did Kenna buy heels that were so high?

The third girl couldn't get past them before collapsing and fainting onto the ground. Mary was about to go over to help her up when the door opened behind her. Olivia finally made another appearance, stepping over her body without a second glance. She was about to read another name from the list when Francis appeared before them, the bodyguards now absent.

The other girls straightened their backs, flipped their hair over their shoulders, but Mary just gazed at Francis, trying to see if he recognized her. She wasn’t worried about how she looked to Francis; he had already seen her in her worst situations. Her mind flashed to the time she fell out of a tree and broke her arm right in front of Francis and his mother. He scanned the girls that were left and said to Olivia, "One coffee, please."

"Yes, right away." She turned to leave but was stopped by Francis's hand on her arm.

"No, send one of them. Training."

Mary looked at the ground, at her shoes, at the other girls’ shoes, anything other than Francis and Olivia, hoping to anyone who was listening that she wouldn't be singled out in front of Francis.

"You."

A silence followed as the girl to her right elbowed her in the arm. She looked up, startled, and replied, "Uh?" Mary felt lightheaded and she wasn't sure if it was from the spotlight that now figuratively shone on her, or because the altitude she wasn't used to.

"What's your name?" asked Olivia, looking at her clipboard.

"Mary Stuart."

As Olivia rambled on about what coffee Francis liked best, something Mary was barely focusing on, she could something flicker in Francis's eyes as he heard her name. His gaze was now curious, inquiring.

"-and he'd like it as quickly as possible, is that clear?" finished Olivia. She had barely looked at Mary.

"Uh, yes." As Mary took her first step to get Francis his coffee, she knew that she was doomed from the start. Her ankle twisted as she put her weight on it, not use to the way the heel made her foot move. Her body collided with the ground almost instantly, right in front of Francis's feet.

She could feel her cheeks burning, almost like they could set her on fire alone. Behind her, she could hear the sniggering of the other girls as she tried to lift herself to her feet.

In her mind's eye, Francis was the noble gentlemen that she remembered from her childhood. Smiling lovingly, he crouched down to move her hair away from her face and held her hand, pulling her up to her full height. He whispered, "Are you okay?" with a smile. She beamed back, admiring his blond locks in the drenching sunlight. Almost like time had slowed down, they were impossibly close and her hands rested on his upper arms, not pulling him close but not pushing him away. It was almost electric where their bodies touched. They would lean in closer and closer, some unknown force making them gravitate towards each other. She felt his breath on her face.

But that was fantasy. Reality was a different story.

Francis gave her a look, almost rolling his eyes, and walked past her. He opened the doors and disappeared into his office.

Mary wished that she would just dissolve into the carpet to never be seen again and that she wouldn't have to face Olivia after this, but she knew that eventually, she would have to get up and get that coffee.

Damn these shoes.

And damn Francis Valois.

* * *

"How did it go?" asked Kenna, watching Mary toss the shopping bag onto the floor next to the front door. She lowered the volume of her laptop which had been playing some indie music that Mary vaguely remembered the lyrics to.

Mary walked through the spacious dorm, sitting heavily in the middle of the couch. "Do you really want to hear it?" asked Mary, leaning on Kenna.

"I'm guessing not well?" said Greer who sat on the other side of Mary. She held out a plate of cookies and Mary took one, nibbling on it dejectedly.

She shrugged and after taking a shuddering breath, said, "It's fine. There are other opportunities to work at a company that Valois Enterprises owns. Besides, I would rather not work for..." Mary took a pause, unsure how to continue. "For Francis."

"Francis?" The two girls shrieked, suddenly jumping up and down in their seats. "You saw Francis there? He saw you there? What did he say?"

As they flung questions at Mary, clutching her arms and pleading for her to describe what had happened, Aylee and Lola walked through the door. They stared at the two girls shaking Mary like a doll before Lola asked, "What's going on?"

"Mary saw Francis! At the interview!"

As the girls begged Mary for the full story and promised to tell an embarrassing story about Greer in return, Mary felt better about completely screwing up. She was soon laughing and after a few gulps - maybe chugs, or glasses - of champagne that Aylee had brought for them, her head was light enough to forget anything that had to do with snooty, pompous, and handsome Francis Valois.

The buzzing of her phone was what woke Mary up the next morning. Her hand slowly roamed under the blankets, trying to see who was calling at such an obscene time. The sun wasn't even up yet and Mary squinted her eyes against the light of dawn.

Her hand bumped into a man's pectoral and accidentally brushed a set of abs. Confused, Mary's head popped out of the covers to see Bash looking at her with a little smirk on his face. On his other side was Kenna, lying on her stomach and drooling onto the pillow.

"There are three people on this bed," Mary stupidly commented as Bash passed her the buzzing phone. Her eyes could barely stay open and she blearily looked at Bash.

"Yes, I've noticed."

"When did you get here?"

Bash softly chuckled. "I guess you were too drunk to remember that Kenna and you called me at 2 am to join your little 'Mary is not getting a job with her high school sweetheart' party."

Mary and Bash’s relationship was equal to that of best friends and she wasn’t even embarrassed that Bash was seeing her in this state. Groaning, Mary picked up the phone. "Hello," she said, slapping a hand onto her forehead. "Who is this?"

"Hello, Ms. Stuart, my name is Olivia D'amencourt from M.E. Magazine, we met yesterday. I'm pleased to inform you that you've been selected to become the personal assistant for Mr. Francis Valois."

Mary shot up, surprising Bash with the change in attitude.

"What? Are you joking?"

Mary could hear Olivia tsk in irritation as she replied, "Ms. Stuart, I never joke during my job. But I do need to run some errands this afternoon and I will need you to take the position right away."

Mary threw the covers off, making Bash and Kenna shout as the cold air hit their skin. She quickly walked to the bathroom, stepping over Lola's sleeping body and a mountain of clothes that they had pulled out of the closet when they took turns impersonating each other. "Right now? It's not even light out yet, I was still sleeping."

"I've already left the house, Ms. Stuart. I'll see you soon."

Olivia hung up the phone and instantly, Mary started getting ready. If she was to one day reside over Stuart Consolidated while working with Valois Enterprises, she would have to dress to impress, especially since she would be working with such an influential member of the merger. Oh, god, she would have to work with Francis. Although yesterday she felt nervous about even seeing him, her stomach filled with a delightful energy as she hurriedly brushed her hair.

She was stuck on what to wear with it when she heard Aylee get up and start the coffee machine. She threw on a large silver headband, tugged on a white dress and had just finished putting a coat and flats on when Aylee, with two cups of coffee came up to her and asked, "Where are you going?"

"So, surprisingly, I actually got the job..."

Aylee gasped with a smile. "Even after falling in front of Francis?"

Mary laughed nervously and said, "Yeah, even after that. The assistant called and said that she needed me to start today, but I’ll be back later."

"Can you have a cup of coffee before you go?" asked Aylee, holding out the steaming mug.

Mary took it, sipping the hot liquid as she grabbed her purse. She moaned in appreciation, appreciating how Aylee always knew how to make the perfect cup of coffee. "I can stay and chug half of it?"

Aylee giggled quietly and they stood in front of the door, drinking their coffee as the rest of the room slept. The silence was easy between them and Mary, after thinking for a few moments, asked Aylee, "Is it normal that I'm nervous yet excited about this? About seeing Francis?"

Nodding, Aylee gulped her coffee down and said, "You two were almost inseparable when you were younger. It's nice to have something from the past."

"But he's changed...so much. My mother insists that I at least maintain some form of relationship with him so the merger goes favorably in our direction, but what if it's not enough? What if he still hates me for leaving?"

Aylee shrugged and replied, "He's had a lot of time to think about it. Maybe he's changed for the better. Just see how it goes."

Mary nodded, looking into her half empty cup of coffee with a frown before giving it back to Aylee and saying, "I have to leave. Bye!"

With almost no time to lose, Mary didn't even bother heading to the bus stop, deciding to flag down a taxi instead to make the most of her time. As she approached the building again, she felt more at ease among the sea of black blazers, more at home. She had grown up in her mother's world of politics, business, and everything professional. Now that she was helping her company advance to the next step of expansion, she felt more useful and more important. She didn't feel so isolated from the workings of her company, she was helping it.

She reached the 28th floor where the floor was just starting its hectic day. She walked to where the receptionist had nicely pointed, pushing open the glass doors. There were two desks facing each other, one bare and the other with a bunch of folders placed on top of it. Past the two desks was another set of glass doors that housed Francis's office. Currently, there were a set of curtains that blocked Mary from peering inside.

Behind her, someone said, "Hello, Ms. Stuart."

Mary turned around and came face-to-face with Olivia, who had a look of slight irritation. Something told Mary that Olivia didn't like the arrangement or her acceptance one bit. After all, she did witness Mary falling on her face.

"Oh, there's no need for that. You can call me Mary."

Olivia nodded slowly. She walked past Mary and directed her to the empty desk. "As I said yesterday, this job is very demanding as I hope you can recognize and understand. In addition to being Mr. Valois's professional assistant, you will also be his weekend special assistant which means that Saturday and Sunday, you will not only assist him at his job, but also assist him in his private life."

Mary hadn't read that part of the application. She froze and asked, "What level of privacy are we talking about?"

"Any."

It took a moment for Mary to repress her nervousness. This is what her mother had told her from the start; that it would take an inside relationship with Francis to ensure that the deal would benefit Stuart Consolidated. This personal assistant position would be the most advantageous time to befriend Francis.

"You won't have to worry about sleeping with him for your job although he does sleep with almost all his assistants," said Olivia, standing in front of Mary's desk. "But hopefully, you won't become another on his list."

Olivia obviously didn't know who Mary was or what family she came from but Mary could play along, she could play dumb. She nodded as one of the telephones on her desk rang. It was bright red, like out of a spy movie which fit the situation she was in; espionage, double-agents, all that James Bond-movie stuff.

Mary quickly picked it up. Mary heard Francis's voice asked for a coffee, the same order she had been given yesterday. “Yes, of course,” she said, and as she heard Francis have a double-take and start to ask a question, she hung up the phone. She looked to Olivia who handed her a pile of folders.

"Can you handle this?" she asked, watching Mary get up to go to the coffee machine.

Mary nodded, repressing her urge to scoff. She had dealt with harder situations than this. She had handled business transactions for her mother and her company, closed political and legal situations, and saved her company from disaster many times.

She could handle a cup of coffee.

“Also, you must read and memorize these documents in the shortest amount of time possible. You must know each line in there better than your birthday, your blood type, even better than your menstrual cycle.”

“Is that all?”

Olivia did a double-take and hesitantly nodded, watching Mary walk off. If this was Francis’s idea of hard, he was going to have to really step up his game. Memorizing documents and fetching coffee were child’s play at this point. Mary would successfully finish the merger, she would graduate college, and she would show that she was a capable leader to everyone that had ever questioned her.

Just because Mary Stuart was young, didn’t mean she was incompetent.


End file.
